SUBJECTS OF THE INQUIRY THE CONDITION AND NECESSITIES OF LABOR MISTAKE OF THE TRADES-UNIONS REASONS FOR IT LABOR SOCIETIES, AS AT PRESENT MANAGED, MISCHIEVOUS

THE AMANA SOCIETY

ITS HISTORY AND ORIGIN AMANA IN 1874 SOCIAL HABITS AND CUSTOMS RELIGION AND LITERATURE

THE HARMONISTS AT ECONOMY

ECONOMY IN 1874 HISTORY OF THE HARMONY SOCIETY ITS RELIGIOUS CREED PRACTICAL LIFE SOME PARTICULARS OF "FATHER RAPP"

THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR

ORIGIN AND HISTORY THEIR RELIGIOUS FAITH PRACTICAL LIFE AND PRESENT CONDITION

THE SHAKERS

"MOTHER ANN" THE ORDER OF LIFE AMONG THE SHAKERS A VISIT TO MOUNT LEBANON DETAILS OF ALL THE SHAKER SOCIETIES SHAKER LITERATURE "SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS"

THE ONEIDA AND WALLINGFORD PERFECTIONISTS

ORIGIN AND HISTORY THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEF DAILY LIFE AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUNDAY AT ONEIDA "CRITICISM" AND "PRAYER-CURES"

THE AURORA AND BETHEL COMMUNES

AURORA IN OREGON BETHEL IN MISSOURI THEIR HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS FAITH

THE ICARIANS

THE BISHOP HILL COLONY

ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY CAUSES OF ITS FAILURE

THE CEDAR VALE COMMUNE

THE SOCIAL FREEDOM COMMUNITY

THREE COLONIES--NOT COMMUNISTIC

ANAHEIM, IN CALIFORNIA VINELAND, IN NEW JERSEY SILKVILLE PRAIRIE HOME, IN KANSAS

COMPARATIVE VIEW AND REVIEW

STATISTICAL COMMUNAL POLITICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE INFLUENCES OF COMMUNISTIC LIFE CONDITIONS AND POSSIBILITIES OF COMMUNISTIC LIVING

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VIEWS IN ZOAR MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES GRACE BEFORE MEAT--AMANA SCHOOL-HOUSE--AMANA AMANA, A GENERAL VIEW CHURCH AT AMANA INTERIOR VIEW OF CHURCH PLAN OF THE INSPIRATIONIST VILLAGES ASSEMBLY HALL--ECONOMY CHURCH AT ECONOMY A STREET VIEW IN ECONOMY FATHER RAPP'S HOUSE--ECONOMY CHURCH AT ZOAR SCHOOL-HOUSE AT ZOAR A GROUP OF SHAKERS THE FIRST SHAKER CHURCH, AT MOUNT LEBANON SHAKER ARCHITECTURE--MOUNT LEBANON SHAKER ARCHITECTURE--ENFIELD, N. H. SHAKER WOMEN AT WORK SHAKER COSTUMES SHAKER WORSHIP.--THE DANCE SISTERS IN EVERY-DAY COSTUME ELDER FREDERICK W. EVANS VIEW OF A SHAKER VILLAGE THE HERB-HOUSE--MOUNT LEBANON MEETING-HOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON INTERIOR OF MEETING-HOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON SHAKER TANNERY--MOUNT LEBANON SHAKER OFFICE AND STORE AT MOUNT LEBANON A SHAKER ELDER A GROUP OF SHAKER CHILDREN SHAKER DINING-HALL A SHAKER SCHOOL SHAKER MUSIC-HALL J. H. NOYES, FOUNDER OF THE PERFECTIONISTS COSTUMES AT ONEIDA THE BETHEL COMMUNE, MISSOURI CHURCH AT BETHEL, MISSOURI

[Illustration: MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES.]

INTRODUCTION

Though it is probable that for a long time to come the mass of mankindin civilized countries will find it both necessary and advantageous tolabor for wages, and to accept the condition of hired laborers (or, asit has absurdly become the fashion to say, employees), every thoughtfuland kind-hearted person must regard with interest any device or planwhich promises to enable at least the more intelligent, enterprising,and determined part of those who are not capitalists to become such, andto cease to labor for hire.

Nor can any one doubt the great importance, both to the security of thecapitalists, and to the intelligence and happiness of thenon-capitalists (if I may use so awkward a word), of increasing thenumber of avenues to independence for the latter. For the character andconduct of our own population in the United States show conclusivelythat nothing so stimulates intelligence in the poor, and at the sametime nothing so well enables them to bear the inconveniences of theirlot, as a reasonable prospect that with industry and economy they mayraise themselves out of the condition of hired laborers into that ofindependent employers of their own labor. Take away entirely the groundsof such a hope, and a great mass of our poorer people would graduallysink into stupidity, and a blind discontent which education would onlyincrease, until they became a danger to the state; for the greater theirintelligence, the greater would be the dissatisfaction with theirsituation--just as we see that the dissemination of education among theEnglish agricultural laborers (by whom, of all classes in Christendom,independence is least to be hoped for), has lately aroused thesesluggish beings to strikes and a struggle for a change in theircondition.

Hitherto, in the United States, our cheap and fertile lands have actedas an important safety-valve for the enterprise and discontent of ournon-capitalist population. Every hired workman knows that if he choosesto use economy and industry in his calling, he may without great orinsurmountable difficulty establish himself in independence on thepublic lands; and, in fact, a large proportion of our most energetic andintelligent mechanics do constantly seek these lands, where with patienttoil they master nature and adverse circumstances, often make fortunateand honorable careers, and at the worst leave their children in animproved condition of life. I do not doubt that the eagerness of some ofour wisest public men for the acquisition of new territory has arisenfrom their conviction that this opening for the independence of laboringmen was essential to the security of our future as a free and peacefulstate. For, though not one in a hundred, or even one in a thousand ofour poorer and so-called laboring class may choose to actually achieveindependence by taking up and tilling a portion of the public lands, itis plain that the knowledge that any one may do so makes those who donot more contented with their lot, which they thus feel to be one ofchoice and not of compulsion.

Any circumstance, as the exhaustion of these lands, which shouldmaterially impair this opportunity for independence, would be, Ibelieve, a serious calamity to our country; and the spirit of theTrades-Unions and International Societies appears to me peculiarlymischievous and hateful, because they seek to eliminate from thethoughts of their adherents the hope or expectation of independence. Themember of a Trades-Union is taught to regard himself, and to act towardsociety, as a hireling for life; and these societies are united, not asmen seeking a way to exchange dependence for independence, but ashirelings, determined to remain such, and only demanding betterconditions of their masters. If it were possible to infuse with thisspirit all or the greater part of the non-capitalist class in the UnitedStates, this would, I believe, be one of the gravest calamities whichcould befall us as a nation; for it would degrade the mass of ourvoters, and make free government here very difficult, if it did notentirely change the form of our government, and expose us to lastingdisorders and attacks upon property.

We see already that in whatever part of our country the Trades-Unionleaders have succeeded in imposing themselves upon mining ormanufacturing operatives, the results are the corruption of ourpolitics, a lowering of the standard of intelligence and independenceamong the laborers, and an unreasoning and unreasonable discontent,which, in its extreme development, despises right, and seeks onlychanges degrading to its own class, at the cost of injury and loss tothe general public.

The Trades-Unions and International Clubs have become a formidable powerin the United States and Great Britain, but so far it is a power almostentirely for evil. They have been able to disorganize labor, and toalarm capital. They have succeeded, in a comparatively few cases, intemporarily increasing the wages and in diminishing the hours of laborin certain branches of industry--a benefit so limited, both as toduration and amount, that it cannot justly be said to have inured to thegeneral advantage of the non-capitalist class. On the other hand, theyhave debased the character and lowered the moral tone of theirmembership by the narrow and cold-blooded selfishness of their spiritand doctrines, and have thus done an incalculable harm to society; and,moreover, they have, by alarming capital, lessened the wages fund,seriously checked enterprise, and thus decreased the general prosperityof their own class. For it is plain that to no one in society is theabundance of capital and its free and secure use in all kinds ofenterprises so vitally important as to the laborer for wages--to theTrades-Unionist.

To assert necessary and eternal enmity between labor and capital wouldseem to be the extreme of folly in men who have predetermined to remainlaborers for wages all their lives, and who therefore mean to bepeculiarly dependent on capital. Nor are the Unions wiser or morereasonable toward their fellow-laborers; for each Union aims, bylimiting the number of apprentices a master may take, and by otherequally selfish regulations, to protect its own members againstcompetition, forgetting apparently that if you prevent men from becomingbricklayers, a greater number must seek to become carpenters; and thatthus, by its exclusive policy, a Union only plays what Western gamblerscall a "cut-throat game" with the general laboring population. For ifthe system of Unions were perfect, and each were able to enforce itspolicy of exclusion, a great mass of poor creatures, driven from everydesirable employment, would be forced to crowd into the lowest and leastpaid. I do not know where one could find so much ignorance, contempt forestablished principles, and cold-blooded selfishness, as among theTrades-Unions and International Societies of the United States and GreatBritain--unless one should go to France. While they retain their presentspirit, they might well take as their motto the brutal and stupid sayingof a French writer, that "Mankind are engaged in a war for bread, inwhich every man's hand is at his brother's throat." Directly, they offera prize to incapacity and robbery, compelling their ablest members to dono more than the least able, and spoiling the aggregate wealth ofsociety by burdensome regulations restricting labor. Logically, to theTrades-Union leaders the Chicago or Boston fire seemed a more beneficialevent than the invention of the steam-engine; for plenty seems to them acurse, and scarcity the greatest blessing. [Transcriber's Note: Lengthyfootnote relocated to chapter end.]

Any organization which teaches its adherents to accept as inevitable forthemselves and for the mass of a nation the condition of hirelings, andto conduct their lives on that premise, is not only wrong, but an injuryto the community. Mr. Mill wisely says on this point, in his chapter on"The Future of the Laboring Classes": "There can be little doubt thatthe _status_ of hired laborers will gradually tend to confine itselfto the description of work-people whose low moral qualities render themunfit for any thing more independent; and that the relation of mastersand work-people will be gradually superseded by partnership in one oftwo forms: in some cases, association of the laborers with thecapitalist; in others, and perhaps finally in all, association oflaborers among themselves." I imagine that the change he speaks of willbe very slow and gradual; but it is important that all doors shall beleft open for it, and Trades-Unions would close every door.

Professor Cairnes, in his recent contribution to Political Economy, goesfurther even than Mr. Mill, and argues that a change of this nature isinevitable. He remarks: "The modifications which occur in thedistribution of capital among its several departments, as nationsadvance, are by no means fortuitous, but follow on the whole awell-defined course, and move toward a determinate goal. In effect, whatwe find is a constant growth of the national capital, accompanied with anearly equally constant decline in the proportion of this capital whichgoes to support productive labor.... Though the fund for theremuneration of mere labor, whether skilled or unskilled, must, so longas industry is progressive, ever bear a constantly diminishingproportion alike to the growing wealth and growing capital, there isnothing in the nature of things which restricts the laboring populationto this fund for their support. In return, indeed, for their mere labor,it is to this that they must look for their sole reward; but _they mayhelp production otherwise than by their labor: they may save, and thusbecome themselves the owners of capital;_ and profits may thus bebrought to aid the wages-fund." [Footnote: "Some Leading Principles ofPolitical Economy Newly Expounded." By J. E. Cairnes, M.A. New York,Harper & Brothers.]

Aside from systematized emigration to unsettled or thinly peopledregions, which the Trades-Unions of Europe ought to organize on a greatscale, but which they have entirely neglected, the other outlets for themass of dissatisfied hand-laborers lie through co-operative orcommunistic efforts. Co-operative societies flourish in England andGermany. We have had a number of them in this country also, but theirsuccess has not been marked; and I have found it impossible to getstatistical returns even of their numbers. If the Trades-Unions had useda tenth of the money they have wasted in futile efforts to shorten hoursof labor and excite their members to hatred, indolence, and waste, inmaking public the statistics and the possibilities of co-operation, theywould have achieved some positive good.

But while co-operative efforts have generally failed in the UnitedStates, we have here a number of successful Communistic Societies,pursuing agriculture and different branches of manufacturing, and I havethought it useful to examine these, to see if their experience offersany useful hints toward the solution of the labor question. Hithertovery little, indeed almost nothing definite and precise, has been madeknown concerning these societies; and Communism remains loudly but veryvaguely spoken of, by friends as well as enemies, and is commonly a wordeither of terror or of contempt in the public prints.

In the following pages will be found, accordingly, an account of theCOMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES now existing in the United States, made frompersonal visit and careful examination; and including for each itssocial customs and expedients; its practical and business methods; itssystem of government; the industries it pursues; its religious creed andpractices; as well as its present numbers and condition, and itshistory.

It appears to me an important fact that these societies, composed forthe most part of men originally farmers or mechanics--people of verylimited means and education--have yet succeeded in accumulatingconsiderable wealth, and at any rate a satisfactory provision for theirown old age and disability, and for the education of their children orsuccessors. In every case they have developed among their membershipvery remarkable business ability, considering their original station inlife; they have found among themselves leaders wise enough to rule, andskill sufficient to enable them to establish and carry on, not merelyagricultural operations, but also manufactures, and to conductsuccessfully complicated business affairs.

Some of these societies have existed fifty, some twenty-five, and somefor nearly eighty years. All began with small means; and some are nowvery wealthy. Moreover, while some of these communes are still livingunder the guidance of their founders, others, equally successful, havecontinued to prosper for many years after the death of their originalleaders. Some are celibate; but others inculcate, or at least permitmarriage. Some gather their members into a common or "unitary" dwelling;but others, with no less success, maintain the family relation and theseparate household.

It seemed to me that the conditions of success vary sufficiently amongthese societies to make their histories at least interesting, andperhaps important. I was curious, too, to ascertain if their successdepended upon obscure conditions, not generally attainable, asextraordinary ability in a leader; or undesirable, as religiousfanaticism or an unnatural relation of the sexes; or whether it mightnot appear that the conditions absolutely necessary to success were onlysuch as any company of carefully selected and reasonably determined menand women might hope to command.

I desired also to discover how the successful Communists had met andovercome the difficulties of idleness, selfishness, and unthrift inindividuals, which are commonly believed to make Communism impossible,and which are well summed up in the following passage in Mr. Mill'schapter on Communism:

"The objection ordinarily made to a system of community of property andequal distribution of the produce, that each person would be incessantlyoccupied in evading his fair share of the work, points, undoubtedly, toa real difficulty. But those who urge this objection forget to how greatan extent the same difficulty exists under the system on which ninetenths of the business of society is now conducted. The objectionsupposes that honest and efficient labor is only to be had from thosewho are themselves individually to reap the benefit of their ownexertions. But how small a part of all the labor performed in England,from the lowest paid to the highest, is done by persons working fortheir own benefit. From the Irish reaper or hodman to the chief justiceor the minister of state, nearly all the work of society is remuneratedby day wages or fixed salaries. A factory operative has less personalinterest in his work than a member of a Communist association, since heis not, like him, working for a partnership of which he is himself amember. It will no doubt be said that, though the laborers themselveshave not, in most cases, a personal interest in their work, they arewatched and superintended, and their labor directed, and the mental partof the labor performed, by persons who have. Even this, however, is farfrom being universally the fact. In all public, and many of the largestand most successful private undertakings, not only the labors of detail,but the control and superintendence are entrusted to salaried officers.And though the 'master's eye,' when the master is vigilant andintelligent, is of proverbial value, it must be remembered that in aSocialist farm or manufactory, each laborer would be under the eye, notof one master, but of the whole community. In the extreme case ofobstinate perseverance in not performing the due share of work, thecommunity would have the same resources which society now has forcompelling conformity to the necessary conditions of the association.Dismissal, the only remedy at present, is no remedy when any otherlaborer who may be engaged does no better than his predecessor: thepower of dismissal only enables an employer to obtain from his workmenthe customary amount of labor, but that customary labor may be of anydegree of inefficiency. Even the laborer who loses his employment byidleness or negligence has nothing worse to suffer, in the mostunfavorable case, than the discipline of a workhouse, and if the desireto avoid this be a sufficient motive in the one system, it would besufficient in the other. I am not undervaluing the strength of theincitement given to labor when the whole or a large share of the benefitof extra exertion belongs to the laborer. But under the present systemof industry this incitement, in the great majority of cases, does notexist. If communistic labor might be less vigorous than that of apeasant proprietor, or a workman laboring on his own account, it wouldprobably be more energetic than that of a laborer for hire, who has nopersonal interest in the matter at all. The neglect by the uneducatedclasses of laborers for hire of the duties which they engage to performis in the present state of society most flagrant. Now it is an admittedcondition of the communist scheme that all shall be educated; and thisbeing supposed, the duties of the members of the association woulddoubtless be as diligently performed as those of the generality ofsalaried officers in the middle or higher classes; who are not supposedto be necessarily unfaithful to their trust, because so long as they arenot dismissed their pay is the same in however lax a manner their dutyis fulfilled. Undoubtedly, as a general rule, remuneration by fixedsalaries does not in any class of functionaries produce the maximum ofzeal; and this is as much as can be reasonably alleged againstcommunistic labor.

"That even this inferiority would necessarily exist is by no means socertain as is assumed by those who are little used to carry their mindsbeyond the state of things with which they are familiar....

"Another of the objections to Communism is similar to that so oftenurged against poor-laws: that if every member of the community wereassured of subsistence for himself and any number of children, on thesole condition of willingness to work, prudential restraint on themultiplication of mankind would be at an end, and population would startforward at a rate which would reduce the community through successivestages of increasing discomfort to actual starvation. There wouldcertainly be much ground for this apprehension if Communism provided nomotives to restraint, equivalent to those which it would take away. ButCommunism is precisely the state of things in which opinion might beexpected to declare itself with greatest intensity against this kind ofselfish intemperance. Any augmentation of numbers which diminished thecomfort or increased the toil of the mass would then cause (which now itdoes not) immediate and unmistakable inconvenience to every individualin the association--inconvenience which could not then be imputed to theavarice of employers or the unjust privileges of the rich. In suchaltered circumstances opinion could not fail to reprobate, and ifreprobation did not suffice, to repress by penalties of somedescription, this or any other culpable self-indulgence at the expenseof the community. The communistic scheme, instead of being peculiarlyopen to the objection drawn from danger of over-population, has therecommendation of tending in an especial degree to the prevention ofthat evil."

It will be seen in the following pages that means have been found tomeet these and other difficulties; in one society even the prudentialrestraint upon marriage has been adopted.

Finally, I wished to see what the successful Communists had made oftheir lives; what was the effect of communal living upon the characterof the individual man and woman; whether the life had broadened ornarrowed them; and whether assured fortune and pecuniary independencehad brought to them a desire for beauty of surroundings and broaderintelligence: whether, in brief, the Communist had any where becomesomething more than a comfortable and independent day-laborer, andaspired to something higher than a mere bread-and-butter existence.

To make my observations I was obliged to travel from Maine in thenortheast to Kentucky in the south, and Oregon in the west. I havethought it best to give at first an impartial and not unfriendly accountof each commune, or organized system of communes; and in severalconcluding chapters I have analyzed and compared their different customsand practices, and attempted to state what, upon the facts presented,seem to be the conditions absolutely requisite to the successful conductof a communistic society, and also what appear to be the influences, forgood and evil, of such bodies upon their members and upon theirneighbors.

I have added some particulars of the Swedish Commune which latelyexisted at Bishop Hill, in Illinois, but which, after a flourishingcareer of seven years, has now become extinct; and I did this to show,in a single example, what are the causes which work against harmony andsuccess in such a society.

Also I have given some particulars concerning three examples ofcolonization, which, though they do not properly belong to my subject,are yet important, as showing what may be accomplished by co-operativeefforts in agriculture, under prudent management.

It is, I suppose, hardly necessary to say that, while I have given animpartial and respectful account of the religious faith of each commune,I am not therefore to be supposed to hold with any of them. Forinstance, I thought it interesting to give some space to the verysingular phenomena called "spiritual manifestations" among the Shakers;but I am not what is commonly called a "Spiritualist."

[Relocated Footnote: Lest I should to some readers appear to use toostrong language, I append here a few passages from a recent Englishwork, Mr. Thornton's book "On Labor," where he gives an account of someof the regulations of English Trades-Unions:

"A journeyman is not permitted to teach his own son his own trade, nor,if the lad managed to learn the trade by stealth, would he be permittedto practice it. A master, desiring out of charity to take as apprenticeone of the eight destitute orphans of a widowed mother, has been told byhis men that if he did they would strike. A bricklayer's assistant whoby looking on has learned to lay bricks as well as his principal, isgenerally doomed, nevertheless, to continue a laborer for life. He willnever rise to the rank of a bricklayer, if those who have alreadyattained that dignity can help it."

"Some Unions divide the country round them into districts, and will notpermit the products of the trades controlled by them to be used exceptwithin the district in which they have been fabricated.... At Manchesterthis combination is particularly effective, preventing any bricks madebeyond a radius of four miles from entering the city. To enforce theexclusion, paid agents are employed; every cart of bricks coming towardManchester is watched, and if the contents be found to have come fromwithout the prescribed boundary the bricklayers at once refuse towork.... The vagaries of the Lancashire brick makers are fairlyparalleled by the masons of the same county. Stone, when freshlyquarried, is softer, and can be more easily cut than later: menhabitually employed about any particular quarry better understand theworking of its particular stone than men from a distance; there is greateconomy, too, in transporting stone dressed instead of in rough blocks.The Yorkshire masons, however, will not allow Yorkshire stone to bebrought into their district if worked on more than one side. All therest of the working, the edging and jointing, they insist on doingthemselves, though they thereby add thirty-five per cent, to itsprice.... A Bradford contractor, requiring for a staircase some steps ofhard delf-stone, a material which Bradford masons so much dislike thatthey often refuse employment rather than undertake it, got the stepsworked at the quarry. But when they arrived ready for setting, hismasons insisted on their being worked over again, at an expense of from5s. to 10s. per step. A master-mason at Ashton obtained some stone readypolished from a quarry near Macclesfield. His men, however, in obedienceto the rules of their club, refused to fix it until the polished parthad been defaced and they had polished it again by hand, though not sowell as at first.... In one or two of the northern counties, theassociated plasterers and associated plasterers' laborers have come toan understanding, according to which the latter are to abstain from allplasterers' work except simple whitewashing; and the plasterers inreturn are to do nothing except pure plasterers' work, that the laborerswould like to do for them, insomuch that if a plasterer wants laths orplaster to go on with, he must not go and fetch them himself, but mustsend a laborer for them. In consequence of this agreement, a Mr. Booth,of Bolton, having sent one of his plasterers to bed and point a dozenwindows, had to place a laborer with him during the whole of the fourdays he was engaged on the job, though any body could have brought himall he required in half a day.... At Liverpool, a bricklayer's laborermay legally carry as many as twelve bricks at a time. Elsewhere ten isthe greatest number allowed. But at Leeds 'any brother in the Unionprofessing to carry more than the common number, which is eight bricks,shall be fined 1s.'; and any brother 'knowing the same without givingthe earliest information thereof to the committee of management shall befined the same.'... During the building of the Manchester Law Courts,the bricklayers' laborers struck because they were desired to wheelbricks instead of carrying them on their shoulders."]

THE INSPIRATIONISTS,

AT

AMANA, IOWA

THE AMANA COMMUNITY.

I.

The "True Inspiration Congregations," as they call themselves ("_WahreInspiration's Gemeinden_"), form a communistic society in Iowa,seventy-four miles west of Davenport.

The society has at this time 1450 members; owns about 25,000 acres ofland; lives on this land in seven different small towns; carries onagriculture and manufactures of several kinds, and is highly prosperous.

Its members are all Germans.

The base of its organization is religion; they are pietists; and theirreligious head, at present a woman, is supposed by them to speak bydirect inspiration of God. Hence they call themselves "Inspirationists."

They came from Germany in the year 1842, and settled at first nearBuffalo, on a large tract of land which they called Eben-Ezer. Here theyprospered greatly; but feeling the need of more land, in 1855 they beganto remove to their present home in Iowa.

They have printed a great number of books--more than one hundredvolumes; and in some of these the history of their peculiar religiousbelief is carried back to the beginning of the last century. Theycontinue to receive from Germany accessions to their numbers, and oftenpay out of their common treasury the expenses of poor families whorecommend themselves to the society by letters, and whom their inspiredleader declares to be worthy.

They seem to have conducted their pecuniary affairs with eminentprudence and success.

II.--HISTORICAL.

The "Work of Inspiration" is said to have begun far back in theeighteenth century. I have a volume, printed in 1785, which is calledthe "Thirty-sixth Collection of the Inspirational Records," and gives anaccount of "Brother John Frederick Rock's journeys and visits in theyear 1719, wherein are recorded numerous utterances of the Spirit by hisword of mouth to the faithful in Constance, Schaffhausen, Zurich, andother places."

They admit, I believe, that the "Inspiration" died out from time totime, but was revived as the congregations became more godly. In 1749,in 1772, and in 1776 there were especial demonstrations. Finally, in theyear 1816, Michael Krausert, a tailor of Strasburg, became what theycall an "instrument" (_werkzeug_), and to him were added severalothers:

Metz, who was for many years, and until his death in 1867, the spiritualhead of the society, wrote an account of the society from the time hebecame an "instrument" until the removal to Iowa. From this, and from avolume of Barbara Heynemann's inspired utterances, I gather that thecongregations did not hesitate to criticize, and very sharply, theconduct of their spiritual leaders; and to depose them, and even expelthem for cause. Moreover, they recount in their books, without disguise,all their misunderstandings. Thus it is recorded of Barbara Heynemannthat in 1820 she was condemned to expulsion from the society, and herearnest entreaties only sufficed to obtain consent that she should serveas a maid in the family of one of the congregation; but even then it wasforbidden her to come to the meetings. Her exclusion seems, however, tohave lasted but a few months. Metz, in his "Historical Description,"relates that this trouble fell upon Barbara because she had too friendlyan eye upon the young men; and there are several notices of her desireto marry, as, for instance, under date of August, 1822, where it isrelated that "the Enemy" tempted her again with a desire to marry GeorgeLandmann; but "the Lord showed through Brother Rath, and also to her ownconscience, that this step was against his holy will, and accordinglythey did not marry, but did repent concerning it, and the Lord's gracewas once more given her." But, like Jacob, she seems to have wrestledwith the Lord, for later she did marry George Landmann, and, though theywere for a while under censure, she regained her old standing as an"inspired instrument," came over to the United States with her husband,was for many years the assistant of Metz, and since his death has beenthe inspired oracle of Amana.

In the year 1822 the congregations appear to have attracted theattention of the English Quakers, for I find a notice that in Decemberof that year they were visited by William Allen, a Quaker minister fromLondon, who seems to have been a man of wealth. He inquired concerningtheir religious faith, and told them that he and his brethren at homewere also subject to inspiration. He persuaded them to hold a meeting,at which by his desire they read the 14th chapter of John; and he toldthem that it was probable he would be moved of the Lord to speak tothem. But when they had read the chapter, and while they waited for theQuaker's inspiration, Barbara Heynemann was moved to speak. At thisAllen became impatient and left the meeting; and in the evening he toldThe brethren that the Quaker inspiration was as real as their own,but that they did not write down what was spoken by their preachers;whereto he received for reply that it was not necessary, for it wasevident that the Quakers had not the real inspiration, nor the properand consecrated "instruments" to declare the will of the Lord; and so theQuaker went away on his journey home, apparently not much edified.

The congregations were much scattered in Germany, and it appears to havebeen the habit of the "inspired instruments" to travel from one to theother, deliver messages from on high, and inquire into the spiritualcondition of the faithful. Under the leadership of Christian Metz andseveral others, between 1825 and 1839 a considerable number of theirfollowers were brought together at a place called Armenburg, wheremanufactures gave them employment, and here they prospered, but fellinto trouble with the government because they refused to take oathsand to send their children to the public schools, which were underthe rule of the clergy.

In 1842 it was revealed to Christian Metz that all the congregationsshould be gathered together, and be led far away out of their own country.Later, America was pointed out as their future home. To a meeting of theelders it was revealed who should go to seek out a place for settlement;and Metz relates in his brief history that one Peter Mook wanted to beamong these pioneers, and was dissatisfied because he was not among thosenamed; and as Mook insisted on going, a message came the next day fromGod, in which he told them they might go or stay as they pleased, butif they remained in Germany it would be "at their own risk;" and as Mookwas not even named in this message, he concluded to remain at home.

Metz and four others sailed in September, 1842, for New York. They foundtheir way to Buffalo; and there, on the advice of the late Mr. Dorsheimer,from whom they received much kindness, bought five thousand acres of theold Seneca Indian reservation at ten dollars per acre. To this they addedlater nearly as much more. Parts of this estate now lie within thecorporate limits of Buffalo; and though they sold out and removed to theWest before the land attained its present value, the purchase was a mostfortunate one for them. Metz records that they had much trouble at firstwith the Indians; but they overcame this and other difficulties, and byindustry and ingenuity soon built up comfortable homes. Three hundred andfifty persons were brought out in the first year, two hundred andseventeen in 1844; and their numbers were increased rapidly, until theyhad over one thousand people in their different villages.

[Illustration: Amana, a general view.]

Between 1843 and 1855, when they began to remove to Iowa, they turnedtheir purchase at Eben-Ezer (as they called the place) into a garden. Ivisited the locality last year, and found there still the large,substantial houses, the factories, churches, and shops which they built.Street cars now run where they found only a dense forest; and the eightthousand acres which they cleared are now fertile fields andmarket-gardens. Another population of Germans has succeeded the AmanaSociety; their churches now have steeples, and there is an occasionaldram-shop; but the present residents speak of their predecessors withesteem and even affection, and in one of the large stores I found theproducts of the Iowa society regularly sold. A few of the former membersstill live on the old purchase.

They appear to have had considerable means from the first. Among themembers were several persons of wealth, who contributed large sums tothe common stock. I was told that one person gave between fifty andsixty thousand dollars; and others gave sums of from two to twentythousand dollars.

They were not Communists in Germany; and did not, I was told, when theyfirst emigrated, intend to live in community. Among those who came overin the first year were some families who had been accustomed to labor infactories. To these the agricultural life was unpleasant, and it wasthought advisable to set up a woolen factory to give them employment.This was the first difficulty which stared them in the face. They hadintended to live simply as a Christian congregation or church, but thenecessity which lay upon them of looking to the temporal welfare of allthe members forced them presently to think of putting all their meansinto a common stock.

Seeing that some of the brethren did not take kindly to agriculturallabor, and that if they insisted upon a purely agricultural settlementthey would lose many of their people, they determined that each should,as far as possible, have employment at the work to which he wasaccustomed. They began to build workshops, but, to carry these onsuccessfully, they had business tact enough to see that it was necessaryto do so by a general contribution of means.

"We were commanded at this time, by inspiration, to put all our meanstogether and live in community," said one to me; "and we soon saw thatwe could not have got on or kept together on any other plan."

Eben-Ezer is a wide plain; and there, as now in Iowa, they settled theirpeople in villages, which they called "Upper," "Lower," and "Middle"Eben-Ezer. From the large size of many of the houses, I imagine they hadthere, commonly, several families in one dwelling. At Amana each familyhas its own house; otherwise their customs were similar to those stillretained in Iowa, which I shall describe in their proper place.

In 1854 they were "commanded by inspiration" to remove to the West. Theyselected Iowa as their new home, because land was cheap there; and in1855, having made a purchase, they sent out a detachment to prepare theway.

It is a remarkable evidence of the prudence and ability with which theyconduct their business affairs, that they were able to sell out thewhole of their eight-thousand-acre tract near Buffalo, with all theirimprovements, without loss. Usually such a sale is extremely difficult,because the buildings of a communistic society have peculiarities whichdetract from their value for individual uses. The Rappists, who sold outtwice, were forced to submit to heavy loss each time. I do not doubtthat several of the northern Shaker societies would have removed beforethis to a better soil and climate but for the difficulty of sellingtheir possessions at a fair price.

The removal from Eben-Ezer to Amana, however, required ten years. Asthey found purchasers in one place they sent families to the other;meantime they do not appear to have found it difficult to maintain theirorganization in both.

III.--AMANA--1874.

"The name we took out of the Bible," said one of the officers of thesociety to me. They put the accent on the first syllable. The nameoccurs in the Song of Solomon, the fourth chapter and eighth verse:"Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look fromthe top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions'dens, from the mountains of the leopards."

Amana in Iowa, however, is not a mountain, but an extensive plain, uponwhich they have built seven villages, conveniently placed so as tocommand the cultivated land, and to form an irregular circle withintheir possessions. In these villages all the people live, and they arethus divided:

The villages lie about a mile and a half apart, and each has a store atwhich the neighboring farmers trade, and a tavern or inn for theaccommodation of the general public. Each village has also itsshoemakers', carpenters', tailors', and other shops, for they aim toproduce and make, as far as possible, all that they use. In Middle Amanathere is a printing-office, where their books are made.

The villages consist usually of one straggling street, outside of whichlie the barns, and the mills, factories, and workshops. The houses arewell built, of brick, stone, or wood, very plain; each with a sufficientgarden, but mostly standing immediately on the street. They use nopaint, believing that the wood lasts as well without. There is usually anarrow sidewalk of boards or brick; and the school-house and church arenotable buildings only because of their greater size. Like the Quakers,they abhor "steeple-houses"; and their church architecture is of theplainest. The barns and other farm buildings are roomy and convenient.On the boundaries of a village are usually a few houses inhabited byhired laborers.

Each family has a house for itself; though when a young couple marry,they commonly go to live with the parents of one or the other for someyears.

As you walk through a village, you notice that at irregular intervalsare houses somewhat larger than the rest. These are either cook-housesor prayer-houses. The people eat in common, but for convenience' sakethey are divided, so that a certain number eat together. For Amana,which has 450 people, there are fifteen such cooking and eating houses.In these the young women are employed to work under the supervision ofmatrons; and hither when the bell rings come those who are appointed toeat at each--the sexes sitting at separate tables, and the childrenalso by themselves.

"Why do you separate men from women at table?" I asked.

"To prevent silly conversation and trifling conduct," was the answer.

Food is distributed to the houses according to the number of personseating in each. Meal and milk are brought to the doors; and eachcooking-house is required to make its own butter and cheese. For thosewhom illness or the care of small children keeps at home, the food isplaced in neat baskets; and it was a curious sight to see, when thedinner-bell rang, a number of women walking rapidly about the streetswith these baskets, each nicely packed with food.

When the bell ceases ringing and all are assembled, they stand up intheir places in silence for half a minute, then one says grace, and whenhe ends, all say, "God bless and keep us safely," and then sit down.There is but little conversation at table; the meal is eaten rapidly,but with decorum; and at its close, all stand up again, some one givesthanks, and thereupon they file out with quiet order and precision.

They live well, after the hearty German fashion, and bake excellentbread. The table is clean, but it has no cloth. The dishes are coarsebut neat; and the houses, while well built, and possessing all that isabsolutely essential to comfort according to the German peasants' idea,have not always carpets, and have often a bed in what New-Englanderswould call the parlor; and in general are for use and not ornament.

They breakfast between six and half-past six, according to the season,have supper between six and seven, and dinner at half-past eleven. Theyhave besides an afternoon lunch of bread and butter and coffee, and insummer a forenoon lunch of bread, to which they add beer or wine, bothhome-made.

They do not forbid tobacco.

Each business has its foreman; and these leaders in each village meettogether every evening, to concert and arrange the labors of thefollowing day. Thus if any department needs for an emergency an extraforce, it is known, and the proper persons are warned. The trusteesselect the temporal foremen, and give to each from time to time hisproper charge, appointing him also his helpers. Thus a member showed mehis "ticket," by which he was appointed to the care of the cows, withthe names of those who were to assist him. In the summer, and when thework requires it, a large force is turned into the fields; and the womenlabor with the men in the harvest. The workmen in the factories are, ofcourse, not often changed.

The children are kept at school between the ages of six and thirteen;the sexes do not sit in separate rooms. The school opens at seveno'clock, and the children study and recite until half-past nine. Fromthat hour until eleven, when they are dismissed for dinner, they knitgloves, wristlets, or stockings. At one o'clock school reopens, and theyonce more attend to lessons until three, from which hour till half-pastfour they knit again. The teachers are men, but they are relieved bywomen when the labor-school begins. Boys as well as girls are requiredto knit. One of the teachers said to me that this work kept them quiet,gave them habits of industry, and kept them off the streets and fromrude plays.

They instruct the children in musical notation, but do not allow musicalinstruments. They give only the most elementary instruction, the "threeRs," but give also constant drill in the Bible and in the Catechism."Why should we let our youth study? We need no lawyers or preachers; wehave already three doctors. What they need is to live holy lives, tolearn God's commandments out of the Bible, to learn submission to hiswill, and to love him."

The dress of the people is plain. The men wear in the winter a vestwhich buttons close up to the throat, coat and trousers being of thecommon cut.

The women and young girls wear dingy colored stuffs, mostly of thesociety's own make, cut in the plainest style, and often short gowns, inthe German peasant way. All, even to the very small girls, wear theirhair in a kind of black cowl or cap, which covers only the back of thehead, and is tied under the chin by a black ribbon. Also all, young aswell as old, wear a small dark-colored shawl or handkerchief over theshoulders, and pinned very plainly across the breast. This peculiaruniform adroitly conceals the marks of sex, and gives a singularlymonotonous appearance to the women.

The sex, I believe, is not highly esteemed by these people, who think itdangerous to the Christian's peace of mind. One of their most esteemedwriters advises men to "fly from intercourse with women, as a veryhighly dangerous magnet and magical fire." Their women work hard anddress soberly; all ornaments are forbidden. To wear the hair loose isprohibited. Great care is used to keep the sexes apart. In their eveningand other meetings, women not only sit apart from men, but they leavethe room before the men break ranks. Boys are allowed to play only withboys, and girls with girls. There are no places or occasions for eveningamusements, where the sexes might meet. On Sunday afternoons the boysare permitted to walk in the fields; and so are the girls, but thesemust go in another direction. "Perhaps they meet in the course of thewalk," said a member to me, "but it is not allowed." At meals and intheir labors they are also separated. With all this care to hide thecharms of the young women, to make them, as far as dress can do so, lookold and ugly, and to keep the young men away from them, love, courtship,and marriage go on at Amana as elsewhere in the world. The young man"falls in love," and finds ways to make his passion known to its object;he no doubt enjoys all the delights of courtship, intensified by thedifficulties which his prudent brethren put in his way; and he marriesthe object of his affection, in spite of her black hood and hersad-colored little shawl, whenever he has reached the age of twenty-four.

For before that age he may not marry, even if his parents consent. Thisis a merely prudential rule. "They have few cares in life, and wouldmarry too early for their own good--food and lodging being securedthem--if there were not a rule upon the subject;" so said one of theirwise men to me. Therefore, no matter how early the young people agree tomarry, the wedding is deferred until the man reaches the proper age.

And when at last the wedding-day comes, it is treated with a degree ofsolemnity which is calculated to make it a day of terror rather than ofunmitigated delight. The parents of the bride and groom meet, with twoor three of the elders, at the house of the bride's father. Here, aftersinging and prayer, that chapter of Paul's writings is read wherein,with great plainness of speech, he describes to the Ephesians and theChristian world in general the duties of husband and wife. On thischapter the elders comment "with great thoroughness" to the youngpeople, and "for a long time," as I was told; and after this lecture,and more singing and prayer, there is a modest supper, whereupon allretire quietly to their homes.

The strictly pious hold that marriages should be made only by consent ofGod, signified through the "inspired instrument."

While the married state has thus the countenance and sanction of thesociety and its elders, matrimony is not regarded as a meritorious act.It has in it, they say, a certain large degree of worldliness; it is notcalculated to make them more, but rather less spiritually minded--sothink they at Amana--and accordingly the religious standing of the youngcouple suffers and is lowered. In the Amana church there are three"classes," orders or grades, the highest consisting of those members whohave manifested in their lives the greatest spirituality and piety. Now,if the new-married couple should have belonged for years to this highestclass, their wedding would put them down into the lowest, or the"children's order," for a year or two, until they had won their slow wayback by deepening piety.

The civil or temporal government of the Amana communists consists ofthirteen trustees, chosen annually by the male members of the society.The president of the society is chosen by the trustees.

This body manages the finances, and carries on the temporalitiesgenerally, but it acts only with the unanimous consent of its members.The trustees live in different villages, but exercise no specialauthority, as I understand, as individuals. The foremen and elders ineach village carry on the work and keep the accounts. Each village keepsits own books and manages its own affairs; but all accounts are finallysent to the head-quarters at Amana, where they are inspected, and thebalance of profit or loss is discovered. It is supposed that the laborof each village produces a profit; but whether it does or not makes nodifference in the supplies of the people, who receive every thing alike,as all property is held in common. All accounts are balanced once ayear, and thus the productiveness of every industry is ascertained.

The elders are a numerous body, not necessarily old men, but presumablymen of deep piety and spirituality. They are named or appointed byinspiration, and preside at religious assemblies.

In every village four or five of the older and more experienced eldersmeet each morning to advise together on business. This council acts, asI understand, upon reports of those younger elders who are foremen andhave charge of different affairs. These in turn meet for a few minutesevery evening, and arrange for the next day's work.

Women are never members of these councils, nor do they hold, as far as Icould discover, any temporal or spiritual authority, with the singleexception of their present spiritual head, who is a woman of eightyyears. Moreover, if a young man should marry out of the society, and hiswife should desire to become a member, the husband is expelled for ayear--at the end of which time both may make application to come in, ifthey wish.

They have contrived a very simple and ingenious plan for supplying theirmembers with clothing and other articles aside from food. To each adultmale an annual allowance is made of from forty to one hundred dollars,according as his position and labor necessitates more or less clothing.For each adult female the allowance is from twenty-five to thirtydollars, and from five to ten dollars for each child.

All that they need is kept in store in each village, and is sold to themembers at cost and expenses. When any one requires an article ofclothing, he goes to the store and selects the cloth, for which he ischarged in a book he brings with him; he then goes to the tailor, whomakes the garment, and charges him on the book an established price. Ifhe needs shoes, or a hat, or tobacco, or a watch, every thing is in thesame way charged. As I sat in one of the shops, I noticed women comingin to make purchases, often bringing children with them, and each hadher little book in which due entry was made. "Whatever we do not use, isso much saved against next year; or we may give it away if we like," oneexplained to me; and added that during the war, when the societycontributed between eighteen and twenty thousand dollars to variousbenevolent purposes, much of this was given by individual members out ofthe savings on their year's account.

Almost every man has a watch, but they keep a strict rule over vanitiesof apparel, and do not allow the young girls to buy or wear ear-rings orbreastpins.

The young and unmarried people, if they have no parents, are dividedaround among the families.

They have not many labor-saving contrivances; though of course theeating in common is both economical and labor-saving. There is in eachvillage a general wash-house, where the clothing of the unmarried peopleis washed, but each family does its own washing.

They have no libraries; and most of their reading is in the Bible and intheir own "inspired" records, which, as I shall show further on, arequite voluminous. A few newspapers are taken, and each calling amongthem receives the journal which treats of its own specialty. In generalthey aim to withdraw themselves as much as possible from the world, andtake little interest in public affairs. During the war they voted; "butwe do not now, for we do not like the turn politics have taken"--whichseemed to me a curious reason for refusing to vote.

Their members came originally from many parts of Germany andSwitzerland; they have also a few "Pennsylvania Dutch." They have muchtrouble with applicants who desire to join the society; and receive, thesecretary told me, sometimes dozens of letters in a month from personsof whom they know nothing; and not a few of whom, it seems, write, notto ask permission to join, but to say that they are coming on at once.There have been cases where a man wrote to say that he had sold all hispossessions, and was then on the way, with his family, to join theassociation. As they claim to be not an industrial, but a religiouscommunity, they receive new members with great care, and only afterthorough investigation of motives and religious faith; and these randomapplications are very annoying to them. Most of their new members theyreceive from Germany, accepting them after proper correspondence, andunder the instructions of "inspiration." Where they believe them worthythey do not inquire about their means; and a fund is annually set apartby the trustees to pay the passage of poor families whom they havedetermined to take in. Usually a neophyte enters on probation for twoyears, signing an obligation to labor faithfully, to conduct himselfaccording to the society's regulations, and to demand no wages.

If at the close of his probation he appears to be a proper person, he isadmitted to full membership; and if he has property, he is then expectedto put this into the common stock; signing also the constitution, whichprovides that on leaving he shall have his contribution returned, butwithout interest.

There are cases, however, where a new-comer is at once admitted to fullmembership. This is where "inspiration" directs such breach of thegeneral rule, on the ground that the applicant is already a fit person.

Most of their members came from the Lutheran Church; but they have alsoCatholics, and I believe several Jews.

They employ about two hundred hired hands, mostly in agriculturallabors; and these are all Germans, many of whom have families. For thesethey supply houses, and give them sometimes the privilege of raising afew cattle on their land.

They are excellent farmers, and keep fine stock, which they care forwith German thoroughness; stall-feeding in the winter.

The members do not work hard. One of the foremen told me that threehired hands would do as much as five or six of the members. Partly thiscomes no doubt from the interruption to steady labor caused by theirfrequent religious meetings; but I have found it generally true that themembers of communistic societies take life easy.

The people are of varying degrees of intelligence; but most of thembelong to the peasant class of Germany, and were originally farmers,weavers, or mechanics. They are quiet, a little stolid, and very wellsatisfied with their life. Here, as in other communistic societies, thebrains seem to come easily to the top. The leading men with whom Iconversed appeared to me to be thoroughly trained business men in theGerman fashion; men of education, too, and a good deal of intelligence.The present secretary told me that he had been during all his early lifea merchant in Germany; and he had the grave and somewhat precise air ofan honest German merchant of the old style--prudent, with a heavy senseof responsibility, a little rigid, and yet kindly.

At the little inn I talked with a number of the rank and file, andnoticed in them great satisfaction with their method of life. They were,on the surface, the commoner kind of German laborers; but they hadevidently thought pretty thoroughly upon the subject of communal living;and knew how to display to me what appeared to them its advantages intheir society: the absolute equality of all men--"as God made us;" thesecurity for their families; the abundance of food; and the independenceof a master.

It seems to me that these advantages are dearer to the Germans than toalmost any other nation, and hence they work more harmoniously incommunistic experiments. I think I noticed at Amana, and elsewhere amongthe German communistic societies, a satisfaction in their lives, a pridein the equality which the communal system secures, and also in theconscious surrender of the individual will to the general good, which isnot so clearly and satisfactorily felt among other nationalities.Moreover, the German peasant is fortunate in his tastes, which arefrugal and well fitted for community living. He has not a great sense ofor desire for beauty of surroundings; he likes substantial living, butcares nothing for elegance. His comforts are not, like the American's,of a costly kind.

I think, too, that his lower passions are more easily regulated orcontrolled, and certainly he is more easily contented to remain in oneplace. The innkeeper, a little to my surprise, when by chance I told himthat I had spent a winter on the Sandwich Islands, asked me with thekeenest delight and curiosity about the trees, the climate, and the lifethere; and wanted to know if I had seen the place where Captain Cook,"the great circumnavigator of the world," was slain. He returned to thesubject again and again, and evidently looked upon me as a prodigiouslyinteresting person, because I had been fortunate enough to see what tohim was classic ground. An American would not have felt one half thisman's interest; but he would probably have dreamed of making the samejourney some day. My kindly host sat serenely in his place, and was notmoved by a single wandering thought.

They forbid all amusements--all cards and games whatever, and allmusical instruments; "one might have a flute, but nothing more." Alsothey regard photographs and pictures of all kinds as tending toidol-worship, and therefore not to be allowed.

They have made very substantial improvements upon their property; amongother things, in order to secure a sufficient water-power, they dug acanal six miles long, and from five to ten feet deep, leading a largebody of water through Amana. On this canal they keep a steam-scow todredge it out annually.

As a precaution against fire, in Amana there is a little tower upon ahouse in the middle of the village, where two men keep watch all night.

They buy much wool from the neighboring farmers; and have a highreputation for integrity and simple plain-dealing among their neighbors.A farmer told me that it was not easy to cheat them; and that they neverdealt the second time with a man who had in any way wronged them; butthat they paid a fair price for all they bought, and always paid cash.

In their woolen factories they make cloth enough for their own wants andto supply the demand of the country about them. Flannels and yarn, aswell as woolen gloves and stockings, they export, sending some of theseproducts as far as New York. The gloves and stockings are made not onlyby the children, but by the women during the winter months, when theyare otherwise unemployed.

At present they own about 3000 sheep, 1500 head of cattle, 200 horses,and 2500 hogs.

The society has no debt, and has a considerable fund at interest.

They lose very few of their young people. Some who leave them returnafter a few years in the world. Plain and dull as the life is, itappears to satisfy the youth they train up; and no doubt it has itsrewards in its regularity, peacefulness, security against want, andfreedom from dependence on a master.

It struck me as odd that in cases of illness they use chieflyhomeopathic treatment. The people live to a hale old age. They had amongthe members, in March, 1874, a woman aged ninety-seven, and a number ofpersons over eighty.

They are non-resistants; but during the late war paid for substitutes inthe army. "But we did wrongly there," said one to me; "it is not rightto take part in wars even in this way."

To sum up: the people of Amana appeared to me a remarkably quiet,industrious, and contented population; honest, of good repute amongtheir neighbors, very kindly, and with religion so thoroughly andlargely made a part of their lives that they may be called a religiouspeople.

IV.--RELIGION AND LITERATURE.

"If one gives himself entirely, and in all his life, to the will of God,he will presently be possessed by the Spirit of God."

"The Bible is the Word of God; each prophet or sacred writer wrote onlywhat he received from God."

"In the New Testament we read that the disciples were 'filled with theHoly Ghost.' But the same God lives now, and it is reasonable to believethat he inspires his followers now as then; and that he will lead hispeople, in these days as in those, by the words of his inspiration."

"He leads us in spiritual matters, and in those temporal concerns whichaffect our spiritual life; but we do not look to him for inspireddirections in all the minute affairs of our daily lives. Inspirationdirected us to come to America, and to leave Eben-Ezer for Iowa.Inspiration sometimes directs us to admit a new-comer to fullmembership, and sometimes to expel an unworthy member. Inspirationdiscovers hidden sins in the congregation."

"We have no creed except the Bible."

"We ought to live retired and spiritual lives; to keep ourselvesseparate from the world; to cultivate humility, obedience to God's will,faithfulness, and love to Christ."

"Christ is our head."

Such are some of the expressions of their religious belief which thepious and well-instructed at Amana gave me.

They have published two Catechisms--one for the instruction of children,the other for the use of older persons. From these it appears that theyare Trinitarians, believe in "justification by faith," hold to theresurrection of the dead, the final judgment, but not to eternalpunishment, believing rather that fire will purify the wicked in thecourse of time, longer or shorter according to their wickedness.

They do not practice baptism, either infant or adult, holding it to be auseless ceremony not commanded in the New Testament. They celebrate theLord's Supper, not at regular periods, but only when by the words of"inspiration" God orders them to do so; and then with peculiarceremonies, which I shall describe further on.

As to this word "Inspiration," I quote here from the Catechism theirdefinition of it:

"_Question_. Is it therefore the Spirit or the witness of Jesuswhich speaks and bears witness through the truly inspired persons?

"_Answer_. Yes; the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Jesus, which bringsto light the hidden secrets of the heart, and gives witness to ourspirits that it is the Spirit of truth.

"_Q_. When did the work of inspiration begin in the later times?

"_A_. About the end of the seventeenth and beginning of theeighteenth century. About this time the Lord began the gracious work ofinspiration in several countries (France, England, and, at last, inGermany), gathered a people by these new messengers of peace, anddeclared a divine sentence of punishment against the fallen Christianworld.

"_Q_. How were these 'instruments' or messengers called?

"_A_. Inspired or new prophets. They were living trumpets of God,which shook the whole of Christendom, and awakened many out of theirsleep of security."

* * * * *

"_Q_. What is the word of inspiration?

"_A_. It is the prophetic word of the New Testament, or the Spiritof prophecy in the new dispensation.

"_Q_. What properties and marks of divine origin has thisinspiration?

"_A_. It is accompanied by a divine power, and reveals the secretsof the heart and conscience in a way which only the all-knowing andsoul-penetrating Spirit of Jesus has power to do; it opens the ways oflove and grace, of the holiness and justice of God; and theserevelations and declarations are in their proper time accuratelyfulfilled.

"_Q_. Through whom is the Spirit thus poured out?

"_A_. Through the vessels of grace, or 'instruments' chosen andfitted by the Lord.

"_Q_. How must these 'instruments' be constituted?

"_A_. They must conform themselves in humility and child-likeobedience to all the motions and directions of God within them; withoutcare for self or fear of men, they must walk in the fear of God, and withattentive watchfulness for the inner signs of his leading; and they mustsubject themselves in every way to the discipline of the Spirit."

Concerning the Constitution of the Inspiration Congregations orcommunities, the same Catechism asserts that it "is founded upon thedivine revelation in the Old and New Testament, connected with thedivine directions, instructions, and determinations, general andspecial, given through the words of the true inspiration."

"_Question_. Through or by whom are the divine ordinances carriedout in the congregations?

"_Answer_. By the elders and leaders, who have been chosen andnominated to this purpose by God.

"_Q_. What are their duties?

"_A_. Every leader or elder of the congregation is in duty bound, byreason of his divine call, to advance, in the measure of the grace andpower given him, the spiritual and temporal welfare of the congregation;but in important and difficult circumstances the Spirit of prophecy willgive the right and correct decision.

"_Q_. Is the divine authority to bind and loose, entrusted,according to Matt, xvi., 19, to the apostle Peter, also given to theelders of the Inspiration Congregations?

"_A_. It belongs to all elders and teachers of the congregation ofthe faithful, who were called by the Lord Jesus through the power of hisHoly Spirit, and who, by the authority of their divine call, and of thedivine power within them, rule without abuse the congregations or flocksentrusted to them.

"_Q_. What are the duties of the members of the InspirationCongregations?

They regard the utterances, while in the trance state, of theirspiritual head as given from God; and believe--as is asserted in theCatechism--that evils and wrongs in the congregation will be thusrevealed by the influence, or, as they say, the inspiration or breath ofGod; that in important affairs they will thus receive the divinedirection; and that it is their duty to obey the commands thus deliveredto them.

There were "inspired instruments" before Christian Metz. Indeed, thepresent "instrument," Barbara Landmann, was accepted before him, but byreason of her marriage fell from grace for a while. It would seem thatMetz also was married; for I was told at Amana that at his death in1867, at the age of sixty-seven, he left a daughter in the community.

The words of "inspiration" are usually delivered in the public meetings,and at funerals and other solemn occasions. They have always beencarefully written down by persons specially appointed to that office;and this appears to have been done so long ago as 1719, when "BrotherJohn Frederick Rock" made his journey through Constance, Schaffhausen,Zurich, etc., with "Brother J. J. Schulthes as writer, who wrote downevery thing correctly, from day to day, and in weal or woe."

When the "instrument" "falls into inspiration," he is often severelyshaken--Metz, they say, sometimes shook for an hour--and thereupon followthe utterances which are believed to proceed from God. The "instrument"sits or kneels, or walks about among the congregation. "Brother Metzused to walk about in the meeting with his eyes closed; but he alwaysknew to whom he was speaking, or where to turn with words of reproof,admonition, or encouragement"--so I was told.

The "inspired" words are not always addressed to the generalcongregation, but often to individual members; and their feelings arenot spared. Thus in one case Barbara Landmann, being "inspired," turnedupon a sister with the words, "But you, wretched creature, follow thetrue counsel of obedience;" and to another: "And you, contrary spirit,how much pain do you give to our hearts. You will fall into everlastingpain, torture, and unrest if you do not break your will and repent, sothat you may be accepted and forgiven by those you have offended, andwho have done so much for you."

The warnings, prophecies, reproofs, and admonitions, thus delivered bythe "inspired instrument," are all, as I have said, carefully writtendown, and in convenient time printed in yearly volumes, entitled"Year-Books of the True Inspiration Congregations: Witnesses of theSpirit of God, which happened and were spoken in the Meetings of theSociety, through the Instruments, Brother Christian Metz and Sister B.Landmann," with the year in which they were delivered. In this countrythey early established a printing-press at Eben-Ezer, and after theirremoval also in Iowa, and have issued a considerable number of volumesof these records. They are read as of equal authority and almost equalimportance with the Bible. Every family possesses some volumes; and intheir meetings extracts are read aloud after the reading of theScriptures.

There is commonly a brief preface to each revelation, recounting thecircumstances under which it was delivered; as for instance:

"No. 10. _Lower Eben-Ezer_, November 7, 1853.--Monday morning theexamination of the congregation was made here according to the commandof the Lord. For the opening service five verses were sung of the hymn,'Lord, give thyself to me;' the remainder of the hymn was read. Afterthe prayer, and a brief silence, Sister Barbara Landmann fell intoinspiration, and was forced to bear witness in the following graciousand impressive revival words of love."

The phrase varies with the contents of the message, as, on anotheroccasion, it is written that "both 'instruments' fell into inspiration,and there followed this earnest admonition to repentance, and words ofwarning;" or, again, the words are described as "important," or"severe," or "gentle and gracious and hope inspiring."

During his wanderings in Germany among the congregations, Metz appearsto have fallen into inspiration almost daily, not only in meetings, butduring conversations, and even occasionally at dinner--whereupon thedinner waited. Thus it is recorded that "at the Rehmuehle, near Hambach,June 1, 1839--this afternoon the traveling brethren with Brother Petercame hither and visited friend Matthias Bieber. After conversation, asthey were about to sit down to eat something, Brother Christian Metzfell into inspiration, and delivered the following words to his friend,and Brother Philip Peter."

The inspired utterances are for the most part admonitory to a holierlife; warnings, often in the severest language, against selfishness,stubbornness, coldness of heart, pride, hatred toward God, grieving theSpirit; with threats of the wrath of God, of punishment, etc. Humilityand obedience are continually inculcated. "Lukewarmness" appears to beone of the prevailing sins of the community. It is needless to say thatto a stranger these homilies are dull reading. Concerning violations ofthe Ten Commandments or of the moral law, I have not found any mentionhere; and I do not doubt that the members of the society live, on thewhole, uncommonly blameless lives. I asked, for instance, whatpunishment their rules provided for drunkenness, but was told that thisvice is not found among them; though, as at Economy and in other Germancommunities, they habitually use both wine and beer.

When any member offends against the rules or order of life of thesociety, he is admonished (_ermahnt_) by the elders; and if he doesnot amend his ways, expulsion follows; and here as elsewhere in thecommunities I have visited, they seem vigilantly to purge the society ofimproper persons.

The following twenty-one "Rules for Daily Life," printed in one of theircollections, and written by one of their older leaders, E. L. Gruber,give, I think, a tolerably accurate notion of their views of the conductof life:

"I. To obey, without reasoning, God, and through God our superiors.

"II. To study quiet, or serenity, within and without.

"III. Within, to rule and master your thoughts.

"IV. Without, to avoid all unnecessary words, and still to study silenceand quiet.

"V. To abandon self, with all its desires, knowledge, and power.

"VI. Do not criticize others, either for good or evil, neither to judgenor to imitate them; therefore contain yourself, remain at home, in thehouse and in your heart.

"VII. Do not disturb your serenity or peace of mind--hence neither desirenor grieve.

"X. Count every word, thought, and work as done in the immediatepresence of God, in sleeping and waking, eating, drinking, etc., andgive him at once an account of it, to see if all is done in his fear andlove.

"XI. Be in all things sober, without levity or laughter; and withoutvain and idle words, works, or thoughts; much less heedless or idle.

"XII. Never think or speak of God without the deepest reverence, fear,and love, and therefore deal reverently with all spiritual things.

"XIII. Bear all inner and outward sufferings in silence, complainingonly to God; and accept all from him in deepest reverence and obedience.

"XIV. Notice carefully all that God permits to happen to you in yourinner and outward life, in order that you may not fail to comprehend hiswill and to be led by it.

"XV. Have nothing to do with unholy, and particularly with needlessbusiness affairs.

"XVI. Have no intercourse with worldly-minded men; never seek theirsociety; speak little with them, and never without need; and then notwithout fear and trembling.

"XVII. Therefore, what you have to do with such men, do in haste; do notwaste time in public places and worldly society, that you be not temptedand led away.

"XVIII. Fly from the society of women-kind as much as possible, as avery highly dangerous magnet and magical fire.

"XIX. Avoid obeisance and the fear of men; these are dangerous ways.

"XX. Dinners, weddings, feasts, avoid entirely; at the best there issin.

"XXI. Constantly practice abstinence and temperance, so that you may beas wakeful after eating as before."

These rules may, I suppose, be regarded as the ideal standard towardwhich a pious Inspirationist looks and works. Is it not remarkable thatthey should have originated and found their chief adherents amongpeasants and poor weavers?

Their usual religious meetings are held on Wednesday, Saturday, andSunday mornings, and every evening. On Saturday, all the people of avillage assemble together in the church or meeting-house; on other daysthey meet in smaller rooms, and by classes or orders.

The society consists of three of these orders--the highest, the middle,and the lower, or children's order. In the latter fall naturally theyouth of both sexes, but also those older and married persons whosereligions life and experience are not deep enough to make them worthy ofmembership in the higher orders.

The evening meeting opens a little after seven o'clock. It is held in alarge room specially maintained for this purpose. I accompanied one ofthe brethren, by permission, to these meetings during my stay at Amana.I found a large, low-ceiled room, dimly lighted by a single lamp placedon a small table at the head of the room, and comfortably warmed withstoves. Benches without backs were placed on each side of this chamber;the floor was bare, but clean; and hither entered, singly, or by twos orthrees, the members, male and female, each going to the proper placewithout noise. The men sat on one side, the women on the other. At thetable sat an elderly man, of intelligent face and a look of someauthority. Near him were two or three others.

When all had entered and were seated, the old man at the table gave outa hymn, reading out one line at a time; and after two verses were sungin this way, he read the remaining ones. Then, after a moment ofdecorous and not unimpressive silent meditation, all at a signal roseand kneeled down at their places. Hereupon the presiding officer uttereda short prayer in verse, and after him each man in his turn, beginningwith the elders, uttered a similar verse of prayer, usually four, andsometimes six lines long. When all the men and boys had thus prayed--andtheir little verses were very pleasant to listen to, the effect being ofchildlike simplicity--the presiding elder closed with a brief extemporaryprayer, whereupon all arose.

Then he read some verses from one of their inspired books, admonishingto a good life; and also a brief homily from one of Christian Metz'sinspired utterances. Thereupon all arose, and stood in their places insilence for a moment; and then, in perfect order and silence, and with akind of military precision, benchful after benchful of people walkedsoftly out of the room. The women departed first; and each went home, Ijudge, without delay or tarrying in the hall, for when I got out thehall was already empty.

The next night the women prayed instead of the men, the presidingofficer conducting the meeting as before. I noticed that the boys andyounger men had their places on the front seats; and the whole meetingwas conducted with the utmost reverence and decorum.

On Wednesday and Sunday mornings the different orders meet at the samehour, each in its proper assembly-room. These are larger than thosedevoted to the evening meetings. The Wednesday-morning meeting began athalf-past seven, and lasted until nine. There was, as in the eveningmeetings, a very plain deal table at the head, and benches, this timewith backs, were ranged in order, the sexes sitting by themselves asbefore; each person coming in with a ponderous hymn-book, and a Bible ina case. The meeting opened with the singing of six verses of a hymn, theleader reading the remaining verses. Many of their hymns have from tento fourteen verses. Next he read some passages from one of theinspirational utterances of Metz; after which followed prayer, each man,as in the evening meetings, repeating a little supplicatory verse. Thewomen did not join in this exercise.

Then the congregation got out their Bibles, the leader gave out thefifth chapter of Ephesians, and each man read a verse in his turn; thenfollowed a psalm; and the women read those verses which remained afterall the men had read. After this the leader read some further passagesfrom Metz. After the reading of the New Testament chapter and the psalm,three of the leaders, who sat near the table at the head of the room,briefly spoke upon the necessity of living according to the words ofGod, doing good works and avoiding evil. Their exhortations were verysimple, and without any attempt at eloquence, in a conversational tone.Finally another hymn was sung; the leader pronounced a blessing, and weall returned home, the men and women going about the duties of the day.

On Saturday morning the general meeting is held in the church. Thecongregation being then more numerous, the brethren do not all pray, butonly the elders; as in the other meetings, a chapter from the NewTestament is read and commented upon by the elders; also passages areread from the inspired utterances of Metz or some other of theirprophets; and at this time, too, the "instrument," if moved, falls intoa trance, and delivers the will of the Holy Spirit.

They keep New-Year's as a holiday, and Christmas, Easter, and theHoly-week are their great religions festivals. Christmas is a threedays' celebration, when they make a feast in the church; there are noChristmas-trees for the children, but they receive small gifts. Most ofthe feast days are kept double--that is to say, during two days. Duringthe Passion-week they have a general meeting in the church every day atnoon, and on each day the chapter appropriate to it is read, andfollowed by prayer and appropriate hymns. The week ends, of course, onSunday with the ascension; but on Easter Monday, which is also kept, thechildren receive colored eggs.

At least once in every year there is a general and minute"Untersuchung," or inquisition of the whole community, including eventhe children--an examination of its spiritual condition. This is done byclasses or orders, beginning with the elders themselves: and I judgefrom the relations of this ceremony in their printed books that it lastslong, and is intended to be very thorough. Each member is expected tomake confession of his sins, faults, and shortcomings; and if any thingis hidden, they believe that it will be brought to light by the inspiredperson, who assumes on this occasion an important part, admonishingindividuals very freely, and denouncing the sins and evils which existin the congregation. At this time, too, any disputes which may haveoccurred are brought up and healed, and an effort is made to revivereligious fervor in the hearts of all.

[Illustration: CHURCH AT AMANA]

[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF CHURCH]

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE INSPIRATIONIST VILLAGES]

Not unfrequently the examination of a class is adjourned from day today, because they are found to be cold and unimpressible; and I noticethat on these occasions the young people in particular are a cause ofmuch grief and trouble on account of their perverse hardness of heart.

The celebration of the Lord's Supper is their greatest religious event.It is held only when the "inspired instrument" directs it, which may nothappen once in two years; and it is thought so solemn and important anoccasion that a full account of it is sometimes printed in a book. Ihave one such volume: "_Das Liebes- und Gedaechtniszmahl des Leidens undSterbens unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi, wie solches von demHerrn durch Sein Wort und zeugnisz angekuendigt, angeordnet und gehaltenwarden, in Vier Abtheilungen, zu Mittel und Nieder Eben-Ezer, im Jahr_1855" ("The Supper of Love and Remembrance of the suffering and death ofour Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: How it was announced, ordered, andheld by his word and witness, in four parts, in Middle and LowerEben-Ezer, in the year 1855"). It is a neatly printed volume of 284pages.

The account begins with the announcement of the Lord's command: "MiddleEben-Ezer, April 21st, 1855, Saturday, in the general meeting, in thebeginning, when the congregation was assembled, came the followinggracious word and determination of the Lord, through Brother Chr. Metz."Thereupon, after some words of preface, the "instrument" kneeled down,the congregation also kneeling, and said: "I am commanded humbly toreveal, according to the sacred and loving conclusion, that you are tocelebrate the supper of love and remembrance in the presence of yourGod. The beginning and the course of it shall be as before. There willbe on this occasion humiliations and revelations, if in any the trueWorker of righteousness and repentance has not been allowed to do hiswork. The Lord will make a representation of the lack of hisunderstanding in many of you; his great love will come to light, andwill light up every one." After more of this kind of address, the"instrument" said: "You are to begin the Lord's Supper on Ascension-day,make ready then all your hearts, clean out all filth, all that is rottenand stinks, all sins and every thing idle and useless; and cherish piousthoughts, so that you shall put down the flesh, as you are commandedto," and so on.

On a following Sunday, the "instrument" recurred to the subject, and inthe course of his remarks reproved one of the elders for disobedience tothe Lord and resistance to grace, and displaced him in the assembly,calling another by name to his place. At the close, he spoke thus,evidently in the name and with the voice of God: "And I leave it to you,my servants, to take out of the middle order here and there some intothe first, and out of the third into the second, but not according tofavor and prejudice, but according to their grace and conduct, of whichyou are to take notice."

A day was given to admonitions and preparation; the "instrument"speaking not only to the congregation in general, in the morning andafternoon meetings, but to a great many in particular--admonishing,exhorting, blaming, encouraging them by name. The next morning there wasa renewal of such hortatory remarks, with singing and prayer; and in theafternoon, all being prepared, the elders washed the feet of thebrethren. This is done only in the higher orders.

Thereupon tables are brought in, and bread and wine are placed. Aftersinging, the "inspired" person blesses these, and they are then receivedby the brethren and sisters from the hands of the elders, who pronouncethe customary words of Scripture.

This being accomplished, the assembly temporarily adjourns, and personspreviously appointed for this office spread on the tables a modestsupper of bread and cake, coffee, chocolate, and a few other articles offood, and to this all sit down with solemn joy. At the conclusion ofthis meal, a hymn is sung, and the assembly retire to their homes.

When the three regular orders have gone through this celebration, thereis a fourth, consisting of children under sixteen years, and of certainadult members who for various reasons have been thought unworthy topartake with the rest; and these also go through a thorough examination.

I asked one of their leading elders whether they believed in a"prayer-cure," explaining what the Oneida communists understand by thisphrase. He replied, "No, we do not use prayer in this way, to curedisease. But it is possible. But if God has determined death, tendoctors cannot help a man."

The present inspired instrument being very aged, I asked whether anotherwas ready to take her place. They said No, no one had yet appeared; butthey had no doubt God would call some one to the necessary office. Theywere willing to trust him, and gave themselves no trouble about it.

It remains to speak of their literature.

They have a somewhat ponderous hymnology, in two great volumes, onecalled "The Voice from Zion: to the Praise of the Almighty," by "JohnWilliam Petersen (A.D. 1698)," printed at Eben-Ezer, N. Y., in 1851, andcontaining 958 pages. The hymns are called Psalms, and are not in rhyme.They are to be sung in a kind of chant, as I judge from the musicprefixed to them; and are a kind of commentary on the Scripture, onepart being taken up with the book of Revelation.

The other volume is the hymn-book in regular use. It contains 1285pages, of which 111 are music--airs to which the different hymns maybe sung. The copy I have is of the third edition, and bears theimprint, "Amana, Iowa, 1871." Its title is "Psalms after the manner ofDavid, for the children of Zion." It has one peculiarity which mightwith advantage be introduced in other hymn-books. Occasional versesare marked with a *, and it is recommended to the reader that these betaught to the children as little prayers. In practice, I found that intheir evening meetings the grown persons as well as the childrenrecited these simple and devotional little verses as their prayers:surely a more satisfactory delivery to them and the congregation thanrude and halting attempts at extemporary utterance.

Many of the hymns are very long, having from twelve to twenty-fourverses; and it is usual at their meetings to sing three or four versesand then read the remainder. They do not sing well; and theirtunes--those at least which I heard--are slow, and apparently in a styleof music now disused in our churches. The hymns are printed as prose,only the verses being separated. I was told that they were "all given bythe Spirit of God," and that Christian Metz had a great gift ofhymn-writing, very often, at home or elsewhere, writing down an entirehymn at one sitting. They are all deeply devotional in spirit, and havenot infrequently the merit of great simplicity and a pleasing quaintnessof expression, of which I think the German language is more capable thanour ruder and more stubborn English.

Their writers are greatly given to rhyming. Even in the inspirationalutterances I find frequently short admonitory paragraphs where ruderhymes are introduced. Among their books is one, very singular, called"Innocent Amusement" ("_Unschuldiges Zeitvertreib_"), in a number ofvolumes (I saw the fifth). It is a collection of verses, making piousapplications of many odd subjects. Among the headings I found Cooking,Rain, Milk, The Ocean, Temperance, Salve, Dinner, A Mast, Fog, A Net,Pitch, A Rainbow, A Kitchen, etc., etc. It is a mass of pious doggerel,founded on Scripture and with fanciful additions.

Another is called "Jesus's ABC, for his scholars," and is also in rhyme.Another is entitled "Rhymes on the sufferings, death, burial, andresurrection of Christ." There are about twelve hundred pages of the ABCbook.

They have printed also a miniature Thomas a Kempis, "for the edificationof children;" two catechisms; a little work entitled "Treasure for thosewho desire God," and other works of similar character. A list, notcomplete, but containing all the books I have been able to collect, willbe found in the Bibliography at the end of this volume.

At the end of the Catechism are some pages of rules for the conduct ofchildren, at home, in church, at school, during play hours, at meals,and in all the relations of their lives. Many of these rules areexcellent, and the whole of them might well be added to the children'scatechisms in use in the churches. Piety, orderly habits, obedience,politeness, cleanliness, kindness to others, truthfulness, cheerfulness,etc., are all inculcated in considerable detail, with great plainness ofspeech, and in sixty-six short paragraphs, easily comprehended by theyoungest children. The fifty-fourth rule shows the care with which theyguard the intercourse of the sexes: "Have no pleasure in violent gamesor plays; do not wait on the road to look at quarrels or fights; do notkeep company with bad children, for there you will learn onlywickedness. Also, _do not play with children of the other sex_."

THE HARMONY SOCIETY,

AT

ECONOMY, PA.

THE HARMONY SOCIETY.

I.--ECONOMY IN 1874.

Traveling from Cleveland to Pittsburgh by rail, you strike the OhioRiver at Wellsville; and the railroad runs thence, for forty-eightmiles, to Pittsburgh, along the river bank, and through the edge of acountry rich in coal, oil, potters' clay, limestone, and iron, andsupporting a number of important manufactures.

To a traveler in search of the Rappist or Harmony settlement at Economy,the names of the towns along here seem to tell of the overshadowinginfluence of these communists; for, passing Liverpool, you come toFreedom, Jethro (whose houses are both heated and lighted with gas froma natural spring near by), Industry, and Beaver; you smile at the signof the "Golden Rule Distillery;" and you wonder at the broken fences,unpainted houses, and tangled and weed-covered grounds, and that generalair of dilapidation which curses a country producing petroleum andbituminous coal.

Presently, however, you strike into what is evidently a large andwell-kept estate: high and solid fences; fields without weeds, and withclean culture or smooth and rich grass; and if you ask the conductor, hewill tell you that for some miles here the land is owned by the"Economites;" and that the town or village of Economy lies among theseneatly kept fields, but out of sight of the railroad on the top of thesteep bluff.

Economy has, in truth, one of the loveliest situations on the OhioRiver. It stands in the midst of a rich plain, with swelling hillsbehind, protecting it from cold winds in winter; a magnificent reach ofthe river in view below; and tall hills on the opposite shore to give apicturesque outlook. The town begins on the edge of the bluff; and underthe shade-trees planted there benches are arranged, where doubtless theHarmonists take their comfort on summer evenings, in view of the riverbelow them and of the village on the opposite shore. Streets proceed atright-angles with the river's course; and each street is lined with neatframe or brick houses, surrounding a square in such a manner that withineach household has a sufficient garden. The broad streets have neatfoot-pavements of brick; the houses, substantially built butunpretentious, are beautified by a singular arrangement of grape-vines,which are trained to espaliers fixed to cover the space between the topof the lower and the bottom of the upper windows. This manner oftraining vines gives the town quite a peculiar look, as though thehouses had been crowned with green.

As you walk through the silent streets, and pass the large AssemblyHall, the church, and the hotel, it will occur to you that these peoplehad, when they founded their place, the advantage of a sensiblearchitect, for, while there is not the least pretense, all the buildingis singularly solid and honest; and in the larger houses the roof-lineshave been broken and managed with considerable skill, so as to produce avery pleasing and satisfactory effect. Moreover, the color of the bricksused in building has chanced to be deep and good, which is no slightadvantage to the place.

Neatness and a Sunday quiet are the prevailing characteristics ofEconomy. Once it was a busy place, for it had cotton, silk, and woolenfactories, a brewery, and other industries; but the most important ofthese have now ceased; and as you walk along the quiet, shady streets,you meet only occasionally some stout, little old man, in a shortlight-blue jacket and a tall and very broad-brimmed hat, lookingamazingly like Hendrick Hudson's men in the play of Rip Van Winkle; orsome comfortable-looking dame, in Norman cap and stuff gown; whosepolite "good-day" to you, in German or English as it may happen, is notunmixed with surprise at sight of a strange face; for, as you willpresently discover at the hotel, visitors are not nowadays frequent inEconomy.

[Illustration: ASSEMBLY HALL--ECONOMY]

[Illustration: CHURCH AT ECONOMY]

The hotel is one of the largest houses in the place; it is of twostories, with spacious bed-chambers, high ceilings, roomy fire-places,large halls, and a really fine dining-room, all scrupulously clean. Itwas once, before the days of railroads, a favorite stopping-place on oneof the main stage routes out of Pittsburgh; in the well-built stable andbarns opposite there was room for twenty or thirty horses; thedining-room would seat a hundred people; and here during many years wasa favorite winter as well as summer resort for Pittsburghers, and animportant source of income to the Economists.

When I for the first time entered the sitting-room on a chilly Decembermorning, the venerable but active landlord was dusting chairs andtables, and looked up in some amazement at the intrusion of a traveler."I can stay here, I suppose," said I, by way of introduction; and wasanswered: "That depends upon how long you want to stay. We don't takepeople to board here." My assurance that I meant to remain but two orthree days, and that I had been recommended by Mr. Henrici, the head ofthe society, secured me a room; and the warning, as I went out for awalk, that I must be in by half-past eleven, promptly, to dine; and byhalf-past four for supper, because other people had to eat after me, andought not to be kept waiting by reason of my carelessness. "For whichreason," added the landlord, "it would be well for you to come in and beat hand a quarter of an hour before the times I have mentioned." When Ihad dined and supped and slept, I saw what a loss to Pittsburghers wasthe closing of the Economy hotel; for the Harmonists live well, and aresubstantial eaters in their German fashion. Nor was any ceremony omittedbecause of the fewness of guests; and old Joseph, the butler andhead-waiter, who, as he told me, came to serve here fifty years ago, andis now seventy-eight years old, attended upon my meals arrayed in ascrupulously white apron, ordered the lass who was his subordinate, andoccasionally condescended to laugh at my jokes, as befitted his place,with as much precision and dignity as when, thirty or forty years ago,he used to serve a houseful of hungry travelers.

Later in the afternoon I discovered the meaning of my landlord'swarnings as to punctuality, as well as the real use of the "EconomyHotel." As I sat before the fire in my own room after supper, I heardthe door-bell ring with a frequency as though an uncommon number oftravelers were applying for lodgings; and going down into thesitting-room about seven o'clock, I discovered there an extraordinarycollection of persons ranged around the fire, and toasting their more orless dilapidated boots. These were men in all degrees of raggedness; menwith one eye, or lame, or crippled--tramps, in fact, beggars for supperand a night's lodging. They sat there to the number of twenty, halfnaked many of them, and not a bit ashamed; with carpet-bags or without;with clean or dirty faces and clothes as it might happen; but allhungry, as I presently saw, when a table was drawn out, about which theygathered, giving their names to be taken down on a register, while tothem came a Harmonist brother with a huge tray full of tins filled withcoffee, and another with a still bigger tray of bread.

Thereupon these wanderers fell to, and having eaten as much bread andcoffee as they could hold, they were consigned to a house a few doorsaway, peeping in at whose windows by and by, I saw a large, cheerfulcoal fire, and beds for the whole company. "You see, after you haveeaten, the table must be cleared, and then _we_ eat; and then comethese people, who have also to be fed, so that, unless we hurry, thewomen are belated with their work," explained the landlord of thiscurious inn to me.

"Is this, then, a constant occurrence?" I asked in some amazement; andwas told that they feed here daily from fifteen to twenty-five suchtramps, asking no questions, except that the person shall not have beena regular beggar from the society. A constant provision of coffee andbread is made for them, and the house set apart for their lodging hasbed accommodations for twenty men. They are expected to wash at thestable next morning, and thereupon receive a breakfast of bread, meat,and coffee, and are suffered to go on their way. Occasionally the verydestitute, if they seem to be deserving, receive also clothing.

"But are you not often imposed upon?" I asked.

"Yes, probably; but it is better to give to a dozen worthless ones thanto refuse one deserving man the cup and loaf which we give," was thereply.

The tramps themselves took this benevolence apparently as a matter ofcourse. They were quiet enough; some of them looked like decent men outof work, as indeed all professed to be going somewhere in search ofemployment. But many of them had the air of confirmed loafers, and someI should not have liked to meet alone on the road after dark.

Economy is the home of the "Harmony Society," better known to theoutside world as the followers of Rapp. It is a town of about onehundred and twenty houses, very regularly built, well-drained, andpaved; it has water led from a reservoir in the hills, and flowing intotroughs conveniently placed in every street; abundant shade-trees; achurch, an assembly hall, a store which supplies also to some extent theneighboring country; different factories, and a number of convenienceswhich villages of its size are too often without. Moreover, it containsa pleasant pleasure-garden, and is surrounded by fine, productiveorchards and by well-tilled fields.

At present Economy is inhabited by all that remain of the society whichwas founded by George Rapp in 1805. These number one hundred and tenpersons, most of whom are aged, and none, I think, under forty. Besides